As veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, the VA says Grand Rapids needs a bigger clinic

Octavian Cantilli | The Grand Rapids PressEddie Moorer of Muskegon, who served in the Vietnam War and in Iraq, approaches his van Thursday after receiving dental care and medication at the Grand Rapids Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic on Coit Avenue NE.

GRAND RAPIDS -- An increase in the number of veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who are seeking treatment at the Grand Rapids Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic on the city's Northeast Side has led officials to seek a new location and larger space.

Officials in Washington say they have selected an unnamed location in the Grand Rapids area and are in negotiations with the landowner.

Plans call for constructing a 97,000-square-foot building to replace the one-story, 64,000-square foot clinic at 3019 Coit Ave. NE, behind the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, which is run by the state.

"We are starting to see more and more returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and our programs continue to grow," said Todd Greenman, spokesman for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Battle Creek, which operates the clinic.

"We're also seeing a lot of older veterans who lost health care when they lost jobs or just can't afford the health care they had," he said.

Eddie Moorer

The number of veterans who visit the clinic has jumped from more than 12,000 in 2004 to more than 15,000 this year.

That doesn't surprise Muskegon resident Eddie Moorer, who came to the Grand Rapids clinic Thursday for dental work and medication.

Moorer, 52, said he regularly visits because of a foot injury suffered in 2003 while serving in Iraq with his Army National Guard unit.

"I was at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center), and the helicopter was coming daily, bringing somebody back that had been injured," said Moorer, who also spent two years in Vietnam with the Army.

"A lot of people thought (Iraq) was going to be a one-, two- or three-year war, but we've still got people coming back, and they need treatment for all kinds of stuff," he said.

FACT SHEET

What: The Grand Rapids Outpatient Veterans Clinic on Coit Avenue, operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is moving to a new site.

How many veterans use the clinic: The clinic treated about 15,000 veterans last year and booked about 135,000 appointments. Demand has increased as more veterans return from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of clients in recent years:

Whether the clinic will remain within the Grand Rapids city limits is unknown, Greenman said.

"We're shooting for Grand Rapids itself, but it could also be in one of the outlying areas," said Greenman, who expects an announcement from the central office by year's end.

Laurie Tranter, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., said she was "not at liberty to disclose any further information" about the site that has been selected until negotiations with the owners are complete.

Plans call for building a facility by 2012 that will meet the area's needs for about 20 years, she said.